Mesenchymal stem cells are pluripotent bone marrow cells with the potential to differentiate into osteoblasts (bone cells), chondrocytes (cartilage cells), and adipocytes (fat tissue cells) upon appropriate stimulation. Understanding and utilizing the knowledge of how various stimuli direct, enhance, and accelerate the differentiation of stem cells is important for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications that require either new bone or new cartilage.
Conventionally, chemical stimuli (i.e., growth factors) have been used to promote stem cell differentiation along various pathways.
To date, the use of alternating electric current stimulation has not been explored as a means of directing. enhancing, and accelerating the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells specifically to either osteoblasts or chondrocytes (but not to adipocytes). The research findings in the present disclosure show for the first time that certain electrical stimulus patterns and regimes direct. enhance, and accelerate differentiation of mesenchymal cells along specific pathways, namely to either osteoblasts (bone cells) or chondrocytes (cartilage cells), but not to adipocytes (fat tissue cells).
Electrical stimulation patterns and regimes that direct, enhance, and accelerate the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into either osteoblasts or chondrocytes (but not adipocytes) provide a novel approach to obtain differentiated cells needed in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications and thus has the potential for major clinical impact. For example. the present invention could be used for bone and cartilage regeneration as follows: (i) mesenchymal stem cells could be isolated from a patient; (ii) said mesenchymal stem cells could then be expanded and differentiated into either bone or cartilage cells in vitro; and (iii) then be returned to the donor patient as differentiated cells for tissue regeneration in vivo.